Chairman and CEO of the NCOC and an industry leader in organizing major events
With us for this edition of Faces of Sports Tourism is Hill Carrow, chairman and CEO of the North Carolina Organizing Committee (NCOC) for the 2029 World University Games. Hill established North Carolina Amateur Sports in 1983, one of the earliest sports commissions in the country, has a long list of sports tourism leadership roles and is co-author of the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival book.
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Hill’s background
I grew up in Kinston, North Carolina, and attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill undergrad where I competed on the swim team. I then got my law degree from Columbia University Law School in New York City.
I have always been a bit of a compulsive organizer. While I was in private practice, and later in-house counsel early in my professional career, I had the idea for and ended up leading the regional effort to attract the U.S. Olympic Festival to North Carolina. The Festival, which was held over a roughly two-decade period from 1978 to 1995, was considered our country’s “domestic Olympics,” and the 1987 edition, which we hosted, had America’s best athletes competing in 34 sports including all Summer Olympic sports and even three Winter Olympic sports.
I was given a leave of absence to run the event as President & Executive Director of the Organizing Committee. The event went very well, and afterwards, instead of returning to the utility company, I decided I would try to make a career in the exciting and relatively new “sports events industry,” which we refer to today as the sports tourism industry.
How did you get into your current role?
My current role is Chairman and CEO of the NCOC for the 2029 World University Games, which means I am serving in that role for those Games. I got into this role by serving in a similar capacity heading up North Carolina’s Bid for the Games during a five-year national and international bid process that started in January of 2018 and concluded on January 10, 2023, with the award of the 2029 WUG to North Carolina USA.
Our regional sports tourism organization responsible for that bid was the Triangle Sports Commission (TSC), and with the approval of the TSC Board I have taken on the assignment of continuing to lead the Games effort. We established the NCOC as the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the Games and recently we hired our first full-time staff members.
What would you consider your favorite part about your job?
There are two favorite parts, actually. The first is problem solving. Though many find the task to be daunting or even overwhelming, I actually enjoy the challenge of directing mega events. In one sense, a major sports event is a very large puzzle that must be solved, figuring out how to get all the pieces to fit and resolving issues all along the way. Working for long periods to solve the puzzle and have everything come together as “just right” as possible at the end, is really energizing, exciting and provides a strong sense of accomplishment.
The second would be team building. More than applicable to just our staff and volunteers, here I mean team building in the broadest sense of the word. Our communities where the World University Games will be held in central North Carolina do not always play well in the sandbox together, so I find it very rewarding to lead an event that requires them all to work together to achieve success on a cause that is far bigger than any of their individual fiefdoms.
What’s your favorite sport to play or watch?
I am a swimmer—these days participating in Masters or adult competitive swimming—so I have to pick my own sport first and foremost both to play and watch. However, I have directed national or international championships in more than 40 different sports, so I actually have a fairly wide range when it comes to other favorites to watch, but basketball, football, hockey, and Olympic sports would likely be others near the top of that list.
Who do you root for?
The UNC Tar Heels, Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, and all North Carolina teams at every level whenever they are playing out-of-state teams. Also, this year is an Olympic year, and the Games are in Paris. It’s hard to beat that for a location, so my favorite sports team for 2024 is Team USA.
I will certainly be pulling for Katie Ledecky as I am currently reading her autobiographical book, Just Add Water. We have a good number of athletes from or connected to the state of North Carolina or one of our universities, so I am going to try to identify some and pull for them at the Olympic Games as well.
What is TSC building or renovating right now?
Not the typical reply, but a brand-new start-up organization, the North Carolina Organizing Committee, to plan, develop and execute the 2029 World University Games. Our current organizational plan has us growing from a single staff member to as many as 110 by the time of the Games, supported by 20,000 volunteers.
Recent and upcoming events:
Well, I definitely want to plug the 2029 World University Games. The World University Games are the world’s largest event for student athletes. It’s considered the Olympics for college and university athletes from around the world, and the second-largest global Olympic multi-sport event behind only the Summer Olympics. We just held our 5 Years To Go Luncheon Celebration on July 11, so the countdown to the big event has begun!
For people to get a taste of the World University Games, the 2025 Winter World University Games will be held from January 13–23, 2025, in Torino, and the 2025 Summer World University Games will be held in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany from the July 16–27, 2025. There is a tremendous amount of information on the Games, including results, highlights and videos, on the website of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), the international governing body for the Games.
Get in contact with Hill Carrow
